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Pantexans send a piece of home to overseas military

Posted: Thursday, August 25, 2016, 12:00 am

Since 2002, Pantexans have sent more than 9,000 care boxes to U.S. military stationed overseas and are continuing the tradition—thanks to Consolidated Nuclear Security, LLC.

Packing day volunteers pose before heading to the post office with the boxes they prepared.

During the recent Pantex Day of Volunteering, Pantexans and their friends and family members teamed up with Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 430 to pack 28 care boxes. CNS contributed $2,000 to cover the shipping.

“Packing these boxes requires a lot of volunteers,” explained Verlene Dickson, retired U.S. Army member and director of the Veterans Resource Center in Amarillo. “There’s a lot that goes in to collecting the items that are donated, organizing the volunteers during a packing day and then getting these boxes shipped.”

Kimbel Leffew, a Pantexan who knows first-hand the importance of care boxes, offered to lead the team of volunteers during packing day.

“All of my children are or were in the military,” said Leffew. “I know how meaningful packages from home were to them, especially when some of the military receive absolutely nothing.”

In total, the volunteer team packed and shipped 28 boxes for 14 individuals in seven different United Service Organizations (USOs). Each recipient received two care boxes: one full of snacks such as chips, jerky, peanuts and even Girl Scout cookies; and the other loaded with an assortment of hygiene products such as deodorant, shampoo, lotion and hand sanitizer.

“When they open those boxes, they don’t just see the snacks, they see the love that is put behind these boxes, and that matters more to them than the actual contents of the box,” said Luan Martin, packing day facilitator and retired Pantexan. “It’s a piece of America.”